Note sheet



Oct. 20, 1925.

c. F. STQDDARD NOTE SHEET Original Filed' July '7, 1908 animator Egg 61%440 11 9 Patented Oct. 20, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES F. STODDARD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR T0 AMERICAN PIANO GOM-PANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

NOTE SHEET.

Original application filed July 7, 1908, Serial No. 442,288.

Divided and this application filed March 13, 1922.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES F. Sronniinn, acitizen of the United States, and a resident of the city, county, andState of New York, have invented an Improvement in Note Sheets, of whichthe following is a specification.

The present invention relates to perforated note sheets for automaticmusical nstruments such as player pianos and the like and has for one ofits objects the improvement in the relative location and arrange ment ofnote soundin and expression con trolling perforations 1n the sheetwhereby, in cooperation with appropriate mechanism, the operation of aninstrument, partrculan ly as to the tone intensity, may be moreadvantageously controlled. The present application is filed as a divisonof a copending application originally filed by me on July -7, 1908,Serial No. 442,288 and renewed on October 27, 191?, Serial No. 198,880,upon which said application a patent has been granted. No. 1,409,478 ofMarch 14, 1922. i

For purposes of illustration and description, the embodiment of thepresent invention shown and described in the above mention copendingapplication has been selected and shown in the accompanying drawing.

In my above mentioned copending application there is shown and describeda preferred embodiment of a certain invention in expression governingmechanisms for antomatic musical instruments with which the illustrativenote sheet of the drawings was primarily designed to cooperate. It willbe apparent to one skilled in the art that a note sheet embodying thepresent invention may be designed to cooperate with expressionmechanisms other than that just referred to. Therefore for the purposesof this application it is deemed unnecessary to explain an expressionmechanism with which the note sheet of this application may cooperate.Reference may be had to the above mentioned copending application ifnecessary.

It is sufiicient for the purposes of this application to show in theaccompanying drawings a tracker T provided with the usual tracker ventsfor the sounding of notes and with additional tracker vents which may beconnected with suitable expression Patent No. 1,409,478, dated March 14,1922.

Serial No. 543,148.

mcclninism in order to control the intensity of playing. In the specificillustration six expression controlling vents are provided andidentified by the letters A to F inclusive. In order to understand thepresent invention it may be assumed that vents A, C and E when openedseparately operate to decrease playing intensities, each to a differentextent and that the opening of vents B, D and F will negative the efiectof opening vents A, C and E respectively. It may further be assumed thatthe respective effects obtained by the opening of any one of vents A, Cor E may be superposed upon the elfects obtained by the previous openingof any other of these three vents to produce the combined effect of thecombination; the result being maintained until ncga tived by theappropriate opening of the cancel vents B, D and F. For a furtherexplanation reference may be had to the above mentioned patent.

It is assumed that the note sheet is adapted to move over the trackerbar in the direction of the arrow, that is, downwardly. The verticaldotted lines at the right of the sheet are for the purpose of making thealignment of perforations and tracker vents more apparent and thetransverse dotted lines are for the purpose of showing more plainly thealignment of note sounding and expression controlling perforations.

Referring first to the group of note sound ing perforations andexpression controlling perforations at the upper part of the sheet, itwill be seen that perforations A O and E will, when registering withtheir respective vents in the tracker bar, operate to de crease playingintensities to the minimum for which the instrument may be adjusted.When the note perforation i 1 opens its corresponding vent in thetracker bar a note will be sounded with minimum intensity. As the notesheet progresses across the tracker bar, expression controllingperforation F will open its corresponding vent, thus canceling theeffect of perforation E and raising playing intensities slightly so thatwhen note perforation N registers with the tracker bar its correspondingnote will be sounded with increased intensity. [is the note sheetprogresses further the perforations E and D will open theircorresponding vents and restore the effect pro- Vii duced by erforatiolnE while c'a'hizeih the efi'ect pro need by the perforation C nasmuch asthe increase in playing intensity, due to the ing of vents E, C and Amay be progressively inthe ordermed t'he result will be that u on theregistration of note sounding per oration N with the tracker bar itsnote will be sounded with still greater intensity. Inasmuch as theperforation F will register with its vent in the tracker bar before thenext note sounding perforation N sounds a note, the cited. of theprevious perforation IE will be cancelled and playing intensity stillfurther increased before N sounds its note.

In similar manner playing intensities may be gradually increased as thenote sounding perforations N N, N, and N come into registration with thetracker, for example, prior "to the sounding of a note by N, perforaticnB will have cancelled the eflect of A, perforation C will have restoredthe efl'ect of perforation C and perforation E will have restored theefieot of E". Thereafter the efiect'of IE will -be cancelled by theintensities inperfor'atio'n F" and play lilngs (y f e oun mg 0 a creasedslight gI before note by 'N. en'fiieperforation D will cancel the effectof perforation C while the effect of perforation .1 will be restored byperforation E before the soundfiig of a note by perforation N". 1h orderto reduce the maximum intensit it is then 0113?; necessary forperforation to register its vent in the tracker bar thereby cancelingthe elfedt of 'E and raisin the playing intensity to the maximum. 7

The foregoing serves to illustrate a preferred arrangementjo fexpression controlling erforatlons themselve but i't will at onceapparent to those skilled in the art that other arrangements ofexpression controlling erforations may be used in carrying out t epresent invention; the foregoing being one of several possible plans oratrangements.

In the above illustration i't haste assumed that each successive n e isstruek with increasing intensity. viously the relative "arrangement ofmicesoiindihgper foration and expression controlling per tions may bevaried-at will notes successively with decreasing intensity or in anymanner desired or appropriate to the musical composition being fen I Inthe rendition -of a musical composition on an automatic instrlmient insuch manner that the original playing of at; mean be faithfullyreproduced, it is often desirable or necessary to accent a note or notesin a chord, that is, to sound with 'reater intensity one or more of agroup 0 notes which are struck substantially simultaneously. It is tothis ,problem that the present invention is particularly directed.

the last named Befflfihgkoiheillustltiv 1!! Dfinote sounding andexpression can ing'perforations at the lower part of the drawing andassuming wi h wfii esl t' to pass over thortraeleeqiit wflhbe o rved 7f;- that the note c'orres onding to the perforatio'niN' will be soun edat an intensity somewhat less than the maximum by reason of the priorregistration bf 'pemmE m 5 i its corresponding tracker Wait. The nextgroup of notes sounded by the perforations N, N, and N will be soundedat a still lower intensig' due to the registration ofthe perforationwith i'tscorrespond'ing vest 1n th tracker. of the next t'wbnotesN'flzsq 1 and N are indicatednpon the score to be summmisliysimultaneous! r it ma be (1 ired to accent tl x w trolled by' fr m atheme note, for

e ionflflaah flm case- (if I a endof'his iiote i ififf a Vance t tionmay moved 's'lig'hm' he he normal positionahdthe centr c? ling p qfi rwh r w to reduce faithe'il l may be so u thatthehfitsdun'ddd'by "1. 1perforation will not he i v but the indie sounded" foi'atibh NW i Iwillbe,astoitsintensi mewyg s 2 expression perforations and D. s J inorder to seize the theme note 1 3 so that it shall more eminent um theaccompurinient expres rolling peri forations A" arid D may the inten- 3sity of the note eyed the acconrpan'i-- P A ment perforation the emfontion N b Ward on sheet so f1 3 that it ifll'be beyond the exact ofthe ina r i tensity A" and 19'. f In the between 0 oh inotes the'efo'rscimsBw' *C ate to fflie existing at he i timeo fthesbun'"fling'oft'h'ehoteb pedal-a w tion N so that when the chord bperforaLtioiisiiI ',N";N" use Rflin can q e gm theme notgmjay be soundedinsimuarma' nor, that s w-em biasimer eeenwmmq theme note. In thisinstancetbe themehtite N" is moved forward to be if-f yond the'ihflue'nce g reducing perforation A. as accentpaniment nbte s of thechm-ears q wi tlzhhout the flielfle l us r p' Wen f? ofn'ote yrsfmmthe'irnatm'l rela- 60118, t I'- l "fies id-- vanced beyond themfllflfl' the letter we placed properly in relation to the reducingiiohs toredflethehitenslty' of sea-.8 thereby. The i native noteexpression Dw-hich further memes gintehsities 'or to the sounding of anote th? while the expression controlling perforations B C and F operateto increase playing intensities before the sounding of a note byperforation N.

The advantages of the present arrangement whereby a selected note isaccented will be apparent at once to those skilled in the art. n orderto preserve the unity of a chord it is essential that the theme oraccented note be not advanced or retarded to such an extent that the earmay easily detect the fact that it is not struck preciselysimultaneously with the other notes in the chord. Therefore the intervalfor readjusting the degree of exhaust in the action wind chest is ofnecessity very small and the smaller it can be made the better will bethe resultant musical effect. The degree of exhaust in an action windchest may be adjusted to a lower level more quickly and surely than itcan be to a higher level. Furthermore, the act of striking one or morenotes tends to reduce, momentarily, the degree of exhaust.

The present arrangement enables the deree of exhaust to be adjusted tothe proper intensity for the theme or accented note a substantialinterval of time before the same is struck and immediately thereafterthe degree of exhaust is reduced so that the accompaniment notes arestruck with subdued intensity. The very act of striking the theme notereduces somewhat the degree of exhaust in the action wind chest andcontributes to the reduction of the intensity of the accompaniment noteswhich are struck somewhat later.

' It is to be understood that the invention herein described is notlimited to the preferred en'lbodimentthereof selected for illustrativepurposes but may be modified and variously embodied within the scope ofthe subjoined claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A perforated sheet for tone-governing apparatus comprising aplurality of perforations for tones to be played in a groupsubstantially simultaneously, a perforation for a relatively loud tonebeing advanced beyond a perforation for a relatively soft tone; and anintensity-reducing perforation retreated rearwardly of the louder-toneper foration, to cooperate with the softer-tone perforation.

2. A perforated sheet for tone-governing apparatus, comprising aplurality of perforations for tones to be played in a groupsubstantially sin'iultaneously; and an intensity-reducing perforationsubstantially aligned with one said tone perforation and to the rear ofanother such tone perforation.

2:). A perforated sheet for tone-controlling apparatus, comprising aplurality of perforations for tones to be played in a groupsubstantially simultaneously; intensity-increasing perforations tocooperate with some of them; and intensity-reducing perforationssubstantially aligned with other tone perforations with which theyeooperate.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification this11th day of March, 1922.

CHARLES F. STODDARD.

